Topic Tuesday // Living with Schizophrenia // 16 May 7 - 9 AEST

@Hannah93 - the video turned out amazing!

What I really like is that it's a balance of learning more about schizophrenia and your experience with the illness, BUT also we got a good insight into who you are!

For those who haven't watched it, can you give a quick run down of who you are and what you do? (study, hobbies, likes/dislikes etc)

@Hannah93 - the video turned out amazing!, your video helped me to help others

Hi @Hannah93. I live with changing diagnoses... a clinical psychologist and GP have diagnosed me with schizoaffective disorder and my psychiatrist (who I only see every few months) has diagnosed me with schizophrenia. In either case I live with psychosis on a pretty much daily basis. I hear voices commanding me to either hurt myself and sometimes hurt other people. Like you, I've thought about suicide (I get told by my voices that nobody wants me around and it makes me very paranoid about other people). I've lived with mental illness since 16 (when I first heard voices) and I am 38 years old today. I use a combination of medication, therapy and a strong bond with my partner to get me through. I still have some times when I have had to be hospitalised (only this year I was hospitalised for a month). I am fearful of what others think about me, especially the stigma about schizophrenia in society. When I completed my Certificate IV in mental health, I did an assignment about stigma in media and news reporting. It was a resounding success (if only in the classroom and not the 'real world').

Looking forward to discussing things with you over the next couple of hours 🙂

Hello Hi @ritawilson, come and join us here

CONGRATULATIONS, Hannah! What a wonderful legacy, to date!

hello @Hannah93 @NikNik and everyone

that took a lot of strength Hannah and you are going to give so much to all of us who are learning about the symptoms

@Queenie It's great that you studied mental health. I studied counselling just after my first psychosis at 19 years of age. I didn't really understand at the time that what happened to me was mental illness. But my biggest stigma was my own - I was terrified of getting schizophrenia because of all the negative information I'd heard about it. The I got sick again and slowly my understanding (or insight) grew. Now I accept my disorder so much better and understand that it doesn't make me a bad person.

Hi to everyone has joined us so far!

Lets kick off with the first question - which is open to @Hannah93 and all of you to contribute to 🙂

If you were explaining your experience with schizophrenia to someone, how would you describe it?

If you were explaining your experience with schizophrenia to someone, how would you describe it?

unless someone wanted me to go into great detail about it, i would just simply say my brain is wired differently and that causes me at times to be confused on what is reality and what isnt.

Scary experience - losing touch with what is real and what isn't. Seeing things that are not there, hearing things (like voices and whispers) that are not there and even smelling stuff that isn't really there. When you're "well" then it's like your confidence in your own perceptions is hit and you're not sure if what you see/hear/smell is real or not. This is why recovery takes so long I think.